2007
Bersée, France
The profile of the Airstream house - originally designed with aluminum-cladded - recalls the famous American caravans whose imagination carries the idea of freedom offered by mobility, nature and wide open spaces.
Although located in the fields, on the edge of a village, its design was not without obstacles:customers wanted a one-level-house on a narrow and sloping plot, moreover, subject to withdrawals and separative strict limits.
To avoid a very long and narrow house, the project is splited in three parts, organized in semi levels. This mid-stage system allows to use the natural slope of the plot and install smooth transitions between the semi-levels. The first part is on the same level as the road and includes the main hall, the laundry, the play-room, the garage, the cellar and the geothermal energy local. The second one is 80cm above the slot with large views on the outstanding landscape all around, in north, est and west directions. It comprises the living spaces : living room, kitchen and dining room. The space is an invitation to imaginary travels: the eye is swept away by the large frames to the north, east and west magnifying the extent of nature which isn’t disturbed by any building. The third one is on top of the first part and offers rooms and bathrooms, it ends with a cantilever protecting the entrance and used as carport. The 3 parts of the house meet in a suspended patio which is the central knot between volumes, creating multiple relations between them.Finally larch-cladded to meet municipal requirements, the house plays with the tones of the site.
